1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shutter mechanism for use in a card module slot of electronic device on board of a motor vehicle, the electronic device being subject to vibration when the motor vehicle moves.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, a card module based on PCMCIA standards for example rapidly comes into widespread use in the electronic device such as a personal computer and so on. Very recently, such a trend is also seen in the electronic device installed on the motor vehicle, the equipment including an in-car navigation system and an in-car audio.
The card module is installed in a card module slot (hereafter, referred as a slot) for use in insertion/removal of the card module, which is arranged in the electronic device. A shutter mechanism which is disclosed in JP-A-1995/282204 is arranged in the slot. The shutter mechanism opens and closes a slot of the electronic device such as a personal computer and so on. The shutter mechanism closes the slot into which the card module is not inserted, and protects a connector and another parts in the slot from dust. However, the shutter mechanism is of limited application to the electronic device such as the personal computer, and is not designed on the assumption that would be applicable to the electronic device which is installed on the motor vehicle and which is vulnerable to vibration when the motor vehicle moves. Therefore, even if a conventional shutter mechanism is applied to the electronic device installed on the motor vehicle, it is not possible to obviate the inconvenience of removing a card connector due to the vibration of the vehicle or of causing a noise due to the vibration of the card.
The technique which is disclosed in JP-A-1999/48869 is known as the prior art of preventing the noise due to the vibration of the card. The official gazette discloses a card stock structure arranged at an instrument panel within the motor vehicle such as cars. The card stock structure stocks cards such as pay cards used in parking lots or gas stations and prepaid cards such as telephone cards so as to facilitate removing the cards. With the card stock structure, a resilient card holding section presses one face of the card accommodated in the card stock structure to prevent the occurrence of noise due to the vibration of the card.
However, if the card stock structure is applied to the slot of the electronic device installed on the motor vehicle above, there is the possibility that circuits of the card module is subject to damage because the card holding section presses and fixes the face of the card. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the card stock structure to the electronic device installed on the motor vehicle in effect.